Fuu, From Tokyo...
by Chris-San
Summary: After defeating Princess Emerald, Fuu, Umi and Hikaru are forced to move on in their lives, relying on eachother for support. Then, Fuu's parents inform her that they're moving. Something I may or may not continue depending on reviews...
1. Together

****

Chapter 1: Together

*~*~*~*~*

"I...I want to go back..."

Fuu looked up to see Hikaru choking back sobs. Like a true warrior, she fought the pain that threatened to overtake her being. Fuu knew this, they all felt the same way. Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu. How she wished she could go back, wished for a second chance to set things right. To do something, anything, to atone for the terrible sins they had committed together.

...murderer...

The word rang in her head, steady as the pounding of her own pained heart beat, and for a moment, she slipped. The guilt, the anger, the pain overflowed her soul. The others felt it too, and soon they were hugging, clinging to each other for support in the peaceful, sunny observation deck of Tokyo tower. People were giving them strange looks. Fuu wished they would just go away. Hikaru was sobbing openly now, the words "go" and "back" spilling out of her mouth in senseless babble. Umi's eyes were dead, the fighting spirit pouring down her face in bright, crystal tears. Fuu couldn't bear it, couldn't bear to see them like this. Swallowing hard, she tested her voice...

"But we can't..."

It was almost a whisper, so quiet, Hikaru wasn't sure she'd heard her right. She looked up, startled, tears still falling from her face. 

"Huh?" 

Fuu took a deep breath, and cleared her throat, trying her best to sound like her usual self. 

"We can't go back, Hikaru-san, Umi-san...we just can't..." 

There was a long pause. Fuu stared at the floor. After a minute, she took another deep breath, and raised her head to stare in the faces of her two best friends, her only friends.

"...so we have to move forward." She concluded, "Together." Her voice gained confidence with every second. They could do this, they would! Together, they had faced demons, and monsters. Together, they had watched friends die, and mourned their losses. Together they had grown to overcome their greatest fears and demons, and finally, to become the Magic Knights of Cefiro. Together, they could do anything. 

"Together." she repeated, and slowly thrust her hand outward into the space between them. There was a pause, Umi and Hikaru looked at each other, then back at Fuu.

"Together," It was unanimous. A second later, bother their hands joined Fuu's, resting on top of hers, but also, holding it up. Fuu let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, and looked into the eyes of the two people she was joined with. Cefiro was not something they would ever forget, and perhaps the pain would never ease. However, as long as they had eachother, the will of their hearts would be strong enough to withstand any pain. She knew they would make it, they had to...Together. 

*~*~*~*~*


	2. The Lone Knight...

*~*~*~*~*

A/N: Okay, for this fic, I need you to pretend one of two things either A) Students in Japan finish grade school in grade 8 and then take entrance exams to get into high schools, or B) Umi, Fuu and Hkaru are all in grade 9 when they get sucked into Cefiro. I know it's politically incorrect and all, but, for the sake of the fic... and besides, they were in grade 9 in the OAV series. Although this fic has nothing to do with the OAV's, why not here too. 

*~*~*~*~*

Together...

The word was whispered by the trees, swaying gently in a soft wind that tangled her sunny straw hair and made dust devils along the abandoned dirt road. Fuu frowned slightly and automatically put one foot in front of another. Not any more they weren't, together that is. Now, Fuu was alone, walking down some country road, heading for her new no-where high school in her new, no-where home town. Fuu wouldn't have minded it so much under normal circumstances, however Umi and Hikaru were now so far away, she would only be able to visit them once a month at most, after taking the tree hour train ride back to Tokyo. How could this have happened? How could the Magic Knights have been so terribly divided by something as meager and common...as moving? 

It had happened one night at dinner. Fuu's parents had announced their plans to retire from busy university life to live in the country and write books on their theses and get out of the city. It perfect timing after all. Kuu would be going off to University next year, and Fuu would be finishing off her middle school this year anyway. Why not get a fresh start at a new high school?

"Because Umi, Hikaru and I have made plans to go to high school together! I can't move so far away, I need them!" she wanted to scream, but she didn't. Not her. Not calm, quiet, agreeable Fuu, never. First, her parents would think something was wrong, and they'd ask her about it. Then she might end up letting something slip about Cefiro, and before long, they'd have her going to visit a psychiatrist once a week. 

No, they'd all agreed that Cefiro must be kept secret, for their own sanity as much as for the sake of appearances. The last thing they needed was to have some idiot find out about their adventures and tease them about something that already hurt them so much. Or worse, have their family members think they were insane, and forbid them from seeing each other in hopes of finding a "cure" for the disease. 

No, Fuu hadn't protested, she'd even smiled as she'd stepped out of the car and took a good first look at the wreak that was to be their house. The paint was chipped, the door was crooked, the roof leaked and the inside looked like it hadn't seen a cleaning rag in years. Worst of all, the whole area was green and beautiful, rich with lush forests and rolling mountains, just like Cefiro had been, before ...

To take her mind off of it, Fuu set to work. Cleaning, scrubbing, fixing and painting, it took almost the whole summer before the house was at least what Fuu would call decent. She tried to see the positive side of everything. It was a quaint house, rustic, almost like a postcard, and the forests were natural, beautiful, and something she would just have to get used to again. After all, forests were normal, and she liked green...

"SPLASH!"

A wall of muddy water went flying up as a passing motorbike whizzed it's way carelessly through a puddle in the road. Fuu was pulled from her thoughts to find herself half soaked, half sullied by the silted liquid. The water dripped quietly down her legs and off the hem of her green skirt to make an even bigger mess out of her socks and squish uncomfortably in her shoes. No, she admitted to herself, she didn't like this place. In fact, she was as close to hating it as she'd been to hating anything in her life. However, hate was a very strong word, and like it or not, she was stuck here, and had to deal. 

Sighing, she wiped a lock of muddy hair from where it had plastered itself to her cheek, and continued down the road, still automatically placing one foot in front of the other. 

*~*~*~*~*


	3. ~~~Storm of the Rain Dragon~~~

*~*~*~*~*

So Fuu walked to school, found a bathroom, and cleaned herself up about as decent as she could manage. Finishing, she looked herself over in the mirror.

Fuu stared back at her. The same old Fuu she'd seen countless times, both before and after coming back from Cefiro. The Fuu who was proper, quiet and shy. Fuu with her perfect green uniform and round glasses, thick as bottle bottoms. Fuu with the plain dull hair that wasn't quite brown and wasn't quite blond either, and bland pale skin.

She'd decided to wear her old school uniform that day when this school had failed to send her one in the mail like she'd requested. It was silly, she knew, and her mother had suggested she put something else on. However, Fuu had declined. She thought this outfit was quite appropriate for today. It had been her armor, after all. The suit that had protected her from countless demon attacks and malicious spells. She only hoped it would protect her today as well. 

Sighing, she pushed her dorky glasses back up to the bridge of her fine, narrow nose, and walked out into the hall. 

*~*~*~*~*

She flitted through the crowd with ease, keeping her head low and her pace fast. As such, she managed to find her new homeroom without attracting any attention to herself from the other students in the hall. Breathing a sigh of relief as she walked into the relative security of the classroom, Fuu quickly headed for the back before anyone could spot her, and chose a desk at the back of the room, directly beside the window. Only once she was there did she truly relax, taking a deep breath as a light breeze filtered in through the screen...

"Oi! Get outta my seat!"

Fuu snapped up so fast that anyone watching would have sworn a gun went off. An angry face stared back at her, dark brown hair sticking up wildly in all directions, eyes hidden by dark sunglasses.

"Uh...um..." her wit failed her as she continued to stare at the boy. Faded and ripped jeans, topped by a baggy leather American bomber jacket and a thin black T-shirt. This was the last type of person Fuu had been wanted to attract attention from, the local hoodlums. 

"Well? You got a hearing problem or something geek? This is my seat, I claimed it. Now move."

Fuu glanced around the room nervously, and became painfully aware that the only seats that remained unoccupied were the ones directly at the front of the classroom. Then everyone would be able to stare at her, and take notice of "Four-Eyed-Fuu" who was always raising her hand and answering all the questions. She gulped, also painfully aware that people were staring...

The bell rang, and Fuu remained silent, desperately glued to her seat as she stared back at the new found bully. If she could hang on just a few minutes longer, the teacher would come in and...

"Good morning class, would everyone please take a seat, and I would like to say welcome to the first day of your freshman year here at..."

The bully turned and hissed at her, "You're gonna regret this, four eyes!" Then, much to Fuu's relief, he turned and stomped away, grabbing the last seat available to him, which happened to be the one directly in front of the teacher's desk. Fuu breathed a sigh of relief and slumped just slightly in her desk as the teacher finished his introductions and began taking attendance. 

"Psst! ... Psst!" 

Fuu cautiously glanced to her left to see who had been trying to get her attention. A girl was there, more than that Fuu didn't bother to discern.

"Oh man, you're going to get it now. Do you know what you just did? That's...Oh!"

"Misuko, Amika." 

"Here!"

Amika-san waited for almost the count of two before turning back to Fuu.

"That's Kouryou Arashi," She hissed, "He's been the school bully for as long as I can remember. He's such a loser, driving his bike around and wearing the stupid jacket. By the way, what's you're name?"

"Hououji, Fuu?"

"Present." 

"Fuu..." Amika-san seemed to consider her name, then "You're new here aren't you. Where did you move from? Was it far away?"

Fuu hesitated a moment. They weren't supposed to talk in class. However, it seemed that the teacher was too busy trying to get Arashi-san to remove his sunglasses to notice.

"Tokyo" she blurted out quietly. Amika-san's eyes went wide. 

"Tokyo!" she repeated in disbelief. "That's so cool! I envy you Fuu! I've spent my whole life living in this hick-town. Do you know how boring it is? God, what I wouldn't give to be able to go live in Tokyo! All the malls and the cloths stores!!"

Amika-san gave a little squeal of glee. 

"Miss Misuko, class has started." 

Fuu focused her attention back to the front of the classroom and listened to the teacher lecture on about the new school rules. It would pass, she knew, everyone would be her friend at first. She was the new girl after all, something for them to take interest in. Then, once they found out that all she liked were books, they'd stop paying attention to her, and she'd again become known as "Four-eyed-Fuu." 

Still...

She couldn't just give up either, could she? It was unlikely, but maybe there was someone here just like her, or different, who she could become friends with. Someone she could laugh with and talk too, just like Umi-san and Hikaru-san. Someone who would listen about...

Fuu set her jaw. 

No. She had promised. The secret of Cefiro died with the three Magic Knights. No one else would ever know. It would be better just to let them think her boring, then they would leave her alone. That way, she would never be in danger of letting anything slip...

Shut everyone out, or try to fit in. Fuu sighed. It was too early to plan anything just yet. Pushing her glasses back up her nose, she lost focus of the teacher's droning voice, and let herself drift back into memories of gold eyed swordsmen and running, babbling marshmallows...

*~*~*~*~*

Lunchtime came, and as had always been her habit, Fuu took her bagged lunch over to the back of the cafeteria and sat down in quiet solitude. Sighing, she opened her lunch and eyed the rather large serving of rice she revealed. She had always been used to cooking for two, one serving for her, and one for her sister Kuu. Letting out a breath in defeat, she picked up her fork and began to munch with half interest as she scanned the pages of the book she had just grabbed out of the library. It was about medicine, and treatment. Fuu had decided she wanted to be a doctor, to help people. She had the brains, after all, and it was the least she could do, to make up for...

"Fuu-chan!!"

Fuu glanced up to see Amika-san walk over, followed closely by three other girls. They were all wearing pretty much the same thing, tight fitting jeans and some sort of fashionable shirt. The reason Fuu hadn't been sent a school uniform was because this school didn't have any. Apparently it was in such a small backwater that they'd never bothered to set up or enforce any type of outfit regulation. Fuu decided it didn't matter if they had uniforms or not, it was just cloth, after all...

"Hi Fuu-chan, can we sit here?" Amika and her friends plopped down without waiting for her answer. Fuu didn't mind, but she wished they wouldn't call her Fuu-chan. There were only two non-relatives in the world who caller her that, and both of them were in Tokyo...

Fuu set down her book and smiled back lightly. 

"Amika-san, how was your morning?"

"Oh god, don't remind me! I got Mr. Yamocho for English studies. The guy talks like a zombie, and he's so fat, it's disgusting!!" The other girls at the table giggled, and Amika-san stopped rolling her eyes and began making introductions. 

"Fuu-chan, this is Jacki, Amara, and Lina-chan." Amika-san smiled and pointed to each one, then puffed out her chest and said importantly, "Guys, this is Fuu-chan. She just moved here from Tokyo!" 

Fuu may as well have been some Hollywood actress with the way they set on her. 

"Tokyo! Oh, how wonderful! What was it like there? Was it fun? Did you go to clubs, or arcades?" 

"Err..."

"If I lived there, I'd never leave the mall, all those stores with the latest fashions! The strip mall here never has anything good, we have to go all the way to..."

"Did you have a boyfriend! Oh I want a boyfriend so bad, but all the guys here are such jerks! None of them are even half handsome! Oh, I bet you had a lot of friends there, didn't you! You must hate having to move here! Why did you do it?"

Fuu chewed her lower lip nervously, "Ano...which question should I answer first?"

The girls giggled slightly before Amika-san waved at her, "Sorry, sorry, we got a little carried away. Just tell us something, whatever you want."

Fuu took a deep breath and tried to sort things out in her mind. Being the center of attention in such a large group was making her nervous. What should she say?

"Well, I didn't spend much time at arcades or clubs, so I can't tell you about them..." Best to be honest, they'll figure out the truth eventually..."However, Umi-san and Hikaru-san did manage to drag me to the mall every once in a while, so..." 

"Umi-san and Hikaru-san?" Amika queried.

"Oh, they're my best friends. Umi-san and Hikaru-san, I think I have a picture of them with me somewhere..."

"Were you guys close, what about you're other friends."

Fuu paused in her searching. Close? Close didn't even begin to describe how the three of them felt. They had proven again and again, that they'd die before they let anything happen to the others...

"Yes, we were close, I didn't have many other friends..." 

"Did you have a boyfriend?"

Gold eyes and emerald hair flashed in her mind, *Because I love her...*

"N-no, I didn't have a boyfriend." She said quietly.

The four girls stared at her, then at each other, then back at her. There was an awkward silence.

"Oh, that's okay then." It was Amika-san who spoke. "Oh wow, look at the time, we have somewhere to be, don't we girls..."

They all nodded and stood up. 

"Well, it was nice talking to you, Hououji-san. Take care."

There was a chorus of "bye's" and a few waves, and they were gone. 

Fuu picked up her fork in one hand and flipped her book open with the other. "That didn't take long," she thought. Oh well, she had been honest, if they didn't like her, then it wasn't meant to be. 

Skimming over pages and quietly nibbling on her food, managed to sit for a few more minutes undisturbed. Then it happened. 

CRASH!!

Next thing she knew, a heavy, warm moist weight was pressing on top of her, and slowly dribbling into her eye. She dashed it away and looked up to find herself covered from head to toe in greasy cafeteria food. Turning, she caught sight of someone smirking at her, eyes full of maliciousness, wild hair trembling at the ends with his contained laughter. Arashi...

"Wow, didn't see you there wind-bag. Jeeze you're dirty!" 

The cafeteria awakened from it's previous silence and began to hum slightly and then to buzz. Fuu looked back down at the table and discovered her book hadn't escaped unscathed either. Hitching back her rage, she calmly wiped off the sloppy-joe type filling, trying not to smear it, and then snapped her book shut, stood up, and quickly walked out of the room. 

Behind her, people were roaring with laughter. 

"What four-eyes, aren'cha hungry? Ha! Four eyed Fuu, covered in stew!!"

Of all the stupid, immature, foolish...that idiot was behaving like a four year old boy, worse than a four year old boy! All over some stupid seating position! 

Fuu quickly found a bathroom and once again, went to work cleaning her uniform. Her glasses were spattered with brownish reddish grease, and her hair was caked in it. Wishing she'd gone to her locker to get a brush, she tipped her head over the sink and tried to slosh it off. Next came her shoulder and arm, both dripping with slop. 

She swallowed the lump in her throat as it formed. She wasn't going to cry, not over some stupid prank, not over that...that...jerk!! You'd think maybe he could have thought up some more original way to seek out his revenge. It was just so stupid. Not worth crying over, definitely not worth crying over. 

Determined, Fuu set her jaw and leaned down to scrub harder. 

*~*~*~*~* 

(Kouryou) = rain dragon and symbolizes hidden intelligence (Arashi) = Storm 

Kouryou Arashi = Storm of the Rain Dragon...

Note: remember in Japan the family name comes first, followed by the person's "first" name. 

...and the other's I just made up...


End file.
